Sunday, March 13, 2011

At What Point

does a self-portrait fully portray the self? When I supplement pen with keyboard? Keyboard with video camera? Video camera with POV shot? Video camera with POV shot with audio track? Audio track with scratch-n-sniff? Scratch-n-sniff with memory card? Memory card with abstractions? Abstractions with stories? Stories with others' versions? Others' version with my version? My version with my versions? My versions with faulty logic? Faulty logic with calendar truths? Calendar truths with narrative truths? Narrative truths with a photo album? A photo album with pictures missing? Missing pictures with reasons why? Reasons why with defense mechanisms? Defense mechanisms with sober discoveries? Sober discoveries with wishful thinking? Wishful thinking with denouement? Denouement with the messy beginning of something else? The messy beginning of something else with how I felt yesterday about it? How I felt yesterday about it with how I'll feel tomorrow? How I'll feel tomorrow with yesterday's lies? Yesterday lies with explanations? Explanations with illogic? Illogic with line drawings? Line drawing with colors added? Added colors with smudges? Smudges with clarity? Clarity with soft-focus? Soft-focus with bone? Bone with flesh? Flesh with odors? Odors with memories? Memories with stories? Stories with their revisions? Revisions with revisions? Revisions with revisions with alternates? Alternates with revisions? Revisions with myth? Myth with what-really-happened? What-really-happened with the larger sense the writer is able to make of what happened (V. Gornick)? The larger sense the writer is able to make of what happened with music? Music with silence? Silence with gravity? Gravity with lightlessness? Lightlessness with the sad weight of the body? The sad weight of the body with puberty? Puberty with young adulthood? Yong adulthood with adulthood? Adulthood with declining years? Declining years with nostalgia for the past? Nostalgia for the past with skepticism? Skepticism with homesickness? Homesickness with objective distance? Objective distance with subjective desires? Subjective desires with one's place in the world? One's place in the world with the end of one's arm? The end of one's arm with the cosmos? The cosmos with the basement? The basement with the bedroom? The bedroom with your parents' bedroom? Your parents' bedroom with reckoning? Reckoning with unknowns? Unknowns with knowns? Knowns with unknowns? Unknowns with dreams? Dreams with waking up? Waking up with leaving the house? Leaving the house with rarely leaving? Rarely leaving with melancholy? Melancholy with joy? Joy with tragedy? Tragedy with humor? Humor with heartbreak? Heartbreak with growing up? Growing up with dying? Dying with procreating? Procreating with ambivalence? Ambivalence with certainty? Certainty with doubt? Doubt with searching? Searching with discovering? Discovering with loss? Loss with accumulations? Accumulations with knowledge? Knowledge with depth? Depth with shallow needs? Shallow needs with frustration? Frustration with finding? Finding with losing? Losing with gaining? Gaining with loss? Loss with having? Having with disappointment? Disappointment with wisdom? Wisdom with aging? Aging with bygones? Bygones with tomorrow? Tomorrow with last week? Last week with her? Her with him? Him with me? Me with myself? Myself with my selves? My selves with history? History with your history? Your history with her history? Her history with my history? My history with someone I've never met? Someone I've never met with fiction? Fiction with nonfiction? Nonfiction with autobiography? Autobiography with one side? One side with two sides? Two sides with three sides? Three sides with infinity? Infinity with madness? Madness with reason? Reason with failure? Failure with trying? Trying with pen? Pen with keyboard? Keyboard with video camera? Video camera with POV shot? Video camera with POV shot with audio track? Audio track with scratch-n-sniff? Scratch-n-sniff with memory card? Memory card with abstractions? Abstractions with stories? Stories with

No Place I Would Rather Be: Roger Angell and a Life in Baseball Writing (forthcoming), Field Recordings from the Inside (essays), This Must Be Where My Obsession With Infinity Began (essays), Conversations With Greil Marcus, AC/DC’s Highway to Hell (33 1/3 Series), Jerry Lee Lewis: Lost and Found, Installations (National Poetry Series), and Sweat: The Story of The Fleshtones, America’s Garage Band. ✸✸ Music Columnist for The Normal School. ✸✸ Five-time "Notable Essay" selection at Best American Essays. ✸✸ Associate Professor of English at Northern Illinois University.

BOOKS

Field Recordings from the Inside

Soft Skull Press

“The collection’s 18 essays do what the best music writing is supposed to do—they make the reader care, regardless of whether they enjoy, or are familiar with, the material being written about; I was mostly willing to follow Bonomo anywhere he wanted to go.” Los Angeles Review of Books

This Must Be Where My Obsession with Infinity Began

Orphan Press

"Joe Bonomo seems to have a Cornell box for each difficult, lyrical moment he remembers. He is a theorist of the self's construction out of the past, full of resistance and the heartbreaking urge to yield." David Lazar

Conversations With Greil Marcus

University Press of Mississippi

"Marcus's knowledge of music and his widespread interests in related topics make this a delight and a real page-turner." The Big Takeover

AC/DC's Highway to Hell

Bloomsbury

"One of the five most important books about AC/DC." Jesse Fink, author of Bon: The Last Highway

Jerry Lee Lewis: Lost and Found

Bloomsbury

"I've read most of the books about him and will now put Jerry Lee Lewis: Lost and Found on the indispensable list. It's one of the best books about the man and his music." Lincoln Journal Star

Installations

Penguin

Sweat: The Story of the Fleshtones, America's Garage Band

Bloomsbury

"Joe Bonomo has written a fine book: a book not only about a band or times passed, but also about the rare virtue of endurance." Nick Tosches

IN TRANSLATION

Jerry Lee Lewis: Lost and Found

Camion Blanc

The Fleshtones: Histoire d'un Groupe de Garage Américain

Camion Blanc

ANTHOLOGIES

The Spirit of Disruption: Landmark Essays from The Normal School

Outpost19

Brief Encounters: An Anthology of Short Nonfiction

Norton

Clash By Night

CityLit Press

The Birth of Rock and Roll

Dust-to-Digital

How To Write About Music

Bloomsbury

The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Prose Poetry: Contemporary Poets in Discussion and Practice